Mixed Messages: Influence of Identity on Student Experiences of In-School Sex Education

• In Event: 035 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 14. Youth and Sexuality

Abstract

This paper goes beyond the popular sex education debates and examines how students assess their experiences with in-school sex education. A survey was administered to students at two high schools in Walla Walla, Washington to investigate whether students experience sex education differently on the basis of differing elements of their identities such as race, class, and gender. The main focus was to determine whether theories of power and discrimination have measureable impacts in the way that students assess their sex education. Trends emerged in the analysis of this data that signify that elements of students’ identities have an impact on their experiences in a sex education classroom. Females were less likely to feel comfortable in their sex education classrooms and males were more likely to harshly critique the diversity of their sex education curriculum. Beyond the classroom, females assessed teen readiness for sex lower than males did. Students of color were less likely than white students to recognize their own sexual agency. These results are important as they indicate that different students are approaching sex education from differing backgrounds and perspectives. These findings have greater public policy implications as they can function as an appropriate starting point for the necessary reworking of sex education in American schools.

Author

• Cameron Michels, San Francisco State University